moby--moby/docs/reference/commandline/import.md

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title = "import"
description = "The import command description and usage"
keywords = ["import, file, system, container"]
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parent = "smn_cli"
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# import

    Usage: docker import file|URL|- [REPOSITORY[:TAG]]

    Create an empty filesystem image and import the contents of the
	tarball (.tar, .tar.gz, .tgz, .bzip, .tar.xz, .txz) into it, then
	optionally tag it.

      -c, --change=[]     Apply specified Dockerfile instructions while importing the image
      --help              Print usage
      -m, --message=      Set commit message for imported image

You can specify a `URL` or `-` (dash) to take data directly from `STDIN`. The
`URL` can point to an archive (.tar, .tar.gz, .tgz, .bzip, .tar.xz, or .txz)
containing a filesystem or to an individual file on the Docker host.  If you
specify an archive, Docker untars it in the container relative to the `/`
(root). If you specify an individual file, you must specify the full path within
the host. To import from a remote location, specify a `URI` that begins with the
`http://` or `https://` protocol.

The `--change` option will apply `Dockerfile` instructions to the image
that is created.
Supported `Dockerfile` instructions:
`CMD`|`ENTRYPOINT`|`ENV`|`EXPOSE`|`ONBUILD`|`USER`|`VOLUME`|`WORKDIR`

## Examples

**Import from a remote location:**

This will create a new untagged image.

    $ docker import http://example.com/exampleimage.tgz

**Import from a local file:**

Import to docker via pipe and `STDIN`.

    $ cat exampleimage.tgz | docker import - exampleimagelocal:new

Import with a commit message.

    $ cat exampleimage.tgz | docker import --message "New image imported from tarball" - exampleimagelocal:new

Import to docker from a local archive.

    $ docker import /path/to/exampleimage.tgz

**Import from a local directory:**

    $ sudo tar -c . | docker import - exampleimagedir

**Import from a local directory with new configurations:**

    $ sudo tar -c . | docker import --change "ENV DEBUG true" - exampleimagedir

Note the `sudo` in this example – you must preserve
the ownership of the files (especially root ownership) during the
archiving with tar. If you are not root (or the sudo command) when you
tar, then the ownerships might not get preserved.